Former tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu has notified the ANC parliamentary caucus of her intention to resign as an MP.
Sisulu was excluded from the executive when President Cyril Ramaphosa removed her as a cabinet member in his reshuffle last week.
According to TimesLIVE, Sisulu was meant to submit her resignation to the office of the ANC chief whip in the national assembly, Pemmy Majodina, on Monday.
Majodina said Sisulu had informed her she should not be redeployed anywhere following her axing by Ramaphosa.
Sisulu told Majodina that the latter would receive her resignation letter on March 13 2023. ‘I’ve not received the letter. I reminded her this morning [14 March].’
Sisulu’s resignation means she will receive a loss-of-office gratuity of at least R4m. She would have lost it had she opted to remain an MP.
Sisulu has been part of the executive since 1996 under Nelson Mandela Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Ramaphosa during his first term.
She has led several ministries including tourism, international relations, human settlements, water and sanitation, defence, public service and administration, housing, human settlements and intelligence.
Sisulu continuously attacked Ramaphosa’s leadership style ahead of the conference last year.
She accused him of portraying dictatorship tendencies when MPs were instructed to vote against adopting the section 89 panel report into the Phala Phala scandal.
She also accused Ramaphosa of hanging her out to dry, after he removed her as international relations minister for implementing an ANC conference resolution to downgrade South Africa’s embassy in Israel to a liaison office.
Speaking to the SABC last year, Sisulu said she had expected Ramaphosa to defend her when the Jewish community complained about the decision to downgrade the embassy, but she was ‘left dangling alone’.